Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
events. You'll need to keep your eyes open and, if possible,
search the web regularly for information in English. See the
websites above for resources.
They will challenge your French skills, but two little
Paris weeklies make a noble attempt at presenting all the
available attractions:
Pariscope
(www. Pariscope.com) and
l'Ofi ciel des Spectacles
. Each sells for one euro or two and
is available Wednesdays in all the kiosks. Events are well-
organised, especially i lms, which are organised both by title
and by arrondisement where they are showing. Literally
thousands of i lm show every day in Paris and if you want
to stick with English, i nd an English language i lm showing
in 'VO' which means 'playing in the original version with
subtitles in French.'
The other major cities of France offer similar resources,
and don't forget to drop in at your local tourist ofi ce, the
Syndicat d'Initiative
, wherever you travel in France.
Eating Out
Now here is an endless topic of consideration, both for you
and for the French. Happily, nearly every website on France
features something on restaurants. And books abound
on the topic. My personal favourite is the
Lonely Planet
City Guide to Paris
. This remarkable tome is a thorough
examination of many topics this topic can only brush on.
And they do a great job with restaurants, bars and clubs.
If you believe in such things as stars and
toques
, then
The
Red Guide Paris
and the
Gault Millau
and the
Zagats
guides
offers thorough assessments of restaurants in the City of
Light and beyond. I'm a great believer in discovering honest
places making good food at reasonable prices. And such
places abound all over France, especially in Paris. You don't
need a book to i nd them. And most places these days post
their menu and prices boldly out front.
Perhaps my perspective is coloured by the fact that the one
time I made a big effort to get to an out-of-the-way restaurant
that was 'really good' I ended up with a terrible case of the
crise de foie
which is a unique French disease. Basically, it is
Search WWH ::
Custom Search